The Hindu Business Line : Rig unavailability may delay Reliance’s KG basin plans

Kolkata, Aug. 6 Reliance Industries is facing further delay in availability of high specification ultra-deepwater rig for development and exploration drilling in the deepwater D6 block in Krishna-Godavari basin.

As against the original plan to deploy a fleet of two high specification ultra-deepwater rigs latest by December, RIL is currently having only one such floater, Deepwater Frontier. The rig was chartered in August 2006.

According to the latest fleet update report issued by the provider Transocean, the other high specification floater, Deepwater Expedition, may not reach RIL before September 2008, nine months behind the original schedule. The rig is currently deployed at a Shell oilfield in Egypt.

Both the rigs can operate in water depths of up to 3,000 metre (10,000 ft) with a drilling depth of 9,000 metre.

High specification rigs apart, RIL’s plan to deploy Discoverer-534 a deepwater floater as early as in April 2007 is yet to materialise. The rig is expected in October 2007, six months behind the schedule. The rig will report to RIL after an estimated one month stay at Shell operations in Pakistan between September and October 2007.

Unlike in the case of deepwater expedition, Transocean did not revise the date of reporting to RIL in its latest monthly update. However, there is a revision in the contract preparation and (or) mobilisation period before it reports to Shell. According to industry observers, this may lead to further minor delays in due course.

Reliance official sources refused to comment on the issue. RIL holds 90 per cent interest in the block. The residual stake is held by Niko Resources of Canada.

The company currently has two Transocean semi-submersible rigs C. Kirk Rhein, Jr. and Actinia at its disposal.

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